Blue Devils drop OT heartbreaker against Chiefs

Saturday

Oct 6, 2012 at 11:25 PMOct 6, 2012 at 11:26 PM

By Peter PietrangeloThe Evening News

CHEBOYGAN — Sault High players and coaches were visibly angry after their 28-27 overtime loss to Cheboygan. Some pounded the ground repeatedly. Others kneeled in the end zone. Still others just laid on the ground. Coach Scott Menard walked slowly behind his team toward the locker room after the team debriefing on the end of the field where they lost on the final play.

Kicker Matt Kibble had his extra point blocked in overtime after a Kyle Root 3-yard touchdown. Cheboygan (5-2) scored on its first play. Cheboygan's Austin Pinot made his extra point. And the Blue Devils lost their 12th straight game against the Chiefs.

This was the one that got away, the Blue Devils' best chance in years to beat their archrivals.

"It is anger because it's a missed opportunity," coach Scott Menard said. "It's not like they kicked our butt or they dominated and we were just lucky to be in it. We were there the whole time, held numerous leads. It is anger because you were so close. Sometimes it's better to lose 40-0 than to lose by one."

The Blue Devils (4-3) now have their backs against the wall for the playoffs with Kingsley (5-2) coming to town next Saturday and the Little Brown Jug game against Newberry (3-4) to follow.

In a game in which momentum swung wildly on nearly every possession, it was the simplest play that decided the game. The Blue Devils have struggled at times with getting extra points blocked this season, but Kibble had made all three of his kicks in regulation. In overtime, he was met by a wall of four Chiefs and knocked over as the Blue Devils took a 27-21 lead and the Chiefs celebrated.

Chiefs quarterback Damon Proctor found Ben Pearson wide open in the end zone on their first play of overtime. Ginop, who missed a potential game-winning 32-yard field goal in the final minute of the fourth quarter, hit his kick straight through the uprights.

"I would've liked to have thrown the ball more effectively, but we did just enough to get us the win tonight," Coon said. "I still have faith in the kids, don't get me wrong, but at the same time did you see the size of their defensive front? Their front is large and they were coming after us."

The whole game could have changed — and did change — on a bizarre four-play stretch in the first half. First, Cheboygan's Nik Bevier took a run 64 yards straight up the middle nearly untouched to give the Chiefs a 13-7 lead. Then Sault High's Ray'Nell Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield but fumbled the ball on a second effort, and Nick Comps returned the fumble to the Sault High 33.

On the next play, Bevier took the ball up the middle again only to have the ball yanked out of his hands by Root, who returned the fumble — which never touched the ground — 70 yards to give the Blue Devils a 14-13 lead.

"We were done if Root doesn't stop that," Menard said. "We could have gone down 21-8 and we were probably finished. He made that play and put us up at halftime. That was a huge one."

And on the next play, Jack Seeley jumped on an onside kick to give the Blue Devils the ball on the Chiefs 32. No. 88 missed a 28-yard field goal to end the half after Seeley dropped what would have been a 32-yard TD pass two plays earlier.

"Both teams could have been ahead at half," Coon said. "They could've been up by two scores, we could've been up by two scores. That's the challenge in coaching because the kids were as low as a snake's belly."

The Blue Devils successfully recovered another onside kick to begin the second half and thought they had taken a two-touchdown lead on a fourth-down pass from James to Ray'Nell Anderson, but the referees determined Anderson fell on the 1-yard line. The Devils had first-and-goal from the 5 but were pushed back to the 18 by a delay of game penalty, two Michael James rushes for loss and an in completion.

"Sometimes you are inexperienced and make some mental mistakes and it cost us on that drive," Menard said.

The Chiefs responded with an 11-play, 99-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard Andrew Dixon run to go up by one score.

"To be honest with you, I thought that was going to be the gamechanger, when they went 99 1/2 yards for the touchdown," Menard said. "But again to our credit we came right back to score and tie it up."

The Blue Devils took an early lead on a 6-yard pass from James to Anderson. The Chiefs tied it in the second on an 18-yard pass from Proctor to John Garst. Proctor completed just three passes all night — two went for touchdowns and the third for a two-point conversion.

James was 6-of-10 passing for 86 yards, and Ray'Shon Anderson had five catches for 74 yards.